Alex Braithwaite
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thebraith.bsky.social
Alex Braithwaite
@thebraith.bsky.social

Political scientist, School of Government & Public Policy, University of Arizona. Research on concentration camps, refugees and forced migration, violent and nonviolent conflict.

Political science 50%
Sociology 36%

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

New #firstview: @uazsgpp.bsky.social's Cameron Mailhot and @gsslab.bsky.social @sabrinamkarim.bsky.social on public perceptions of and support for international state-building, with evidence from conjoint experiments in Liberia.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
International State Building and Civilian Preferences: Experimental Evidence from Liberia | International Organization | Cambridge Core
International State Building and Civilian Preferences: Experimental Evidence from Liberia
www.cambridge.org
I’ve done this for 2 weeks now and it *absolutely rules*. Best class discussions I’ve ever had. Best engagement with readings. They write in this worksheet for 15 minutes, then talk about their responses in groups of 3-4, then groups share with the whole class, and *then* we talk about the readings
Updating my comparative public admin seminar class—which was decimated by AI last year—to maybe be a little more LLM-proof by adding a 20–30 minute start-of-class writing & discussion activity. Will it work? Who knows! Full details and PDF here: governancef25.classes.andrewheiss.com/assignment/c...
I recently drove across the country and listened to the entire Rolling Stones discography in order (I’ve listened to all of these albums many times but never like this 😁). Here is the top 20. Worst album (by far): Dirty Work. The lesson: even if you’ve hit rock bottom in your job you can improve. 😂
"The Nazis... imagined their targets would self-deport. Once the myth of self-deportation collapsed, they turned to more punitive measures. On Tuesday, Noem similarly noted the Everglades camp was meant to frighten immigrants into self-deporting. 'If you don’t,' she said, 'you may end up here.'"
Opinion | Don’t call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp.
This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.
www.msnbc.com

Great news. Very well earned!

You can’t just leave us hanging like that for … a week or so!!
BJPolS is an #OpenAccess journal.

All articles accepted for publication in BJPolS since July 2024 will be open access; published with a Creative Commons licence and freely available to read online.

Find out about your open access options - cup.org/4gD95tA

#OA
Applications for the 2025 New Era Workshop (NEW) are now open! NEW is an annual three-day training program for PhD students in international affairs and related disciplines, held September 25-27, 2025 at the University of Denver! Applications and more info can be found on our website. Please share!
NEW — Bridging the Gap
www.bridgingthegapproject.org
Turks have an unforgettable saying

▸ Öküz tahta çıkarsa öküz padişah olmaz, saray ahır olur

“When an ox ascends to the throne, he doesn’t become king; the palace becomes a barn”

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

What the Trump administration wants to do by creating these camps is monstrous enough. But a key thing I found when writing a book on concentration camp history is that when you establish this kind of detention, it tends over time to devolve into much worse kinds of camps.
Trump Plans to Use Military Sites Across the Country to Detain Undocumented Immigrants
The move would be a drastic escalation by the White House to militarize immigration enforcement.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

Three things that make the U.S. the envy of the world:

1) Professionalized military with strong norm of civilian control

2) Higher education and cutting-edge scientific research

3) Ability to welcome immigrants and attract the “best and the brightest”

All three are under threat.

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

“increasingly looks as though [Trump] and his allies are targeting academia more broadly”
@michellegoldberg.bsky.social

Higher ed administrations need to recognize that these forces cannot be appeased. They’re at war with the value of truth itself, and their conspiracy theories say destroy you.
Opinion | Trump Wants to Destroy All Academia, Not Just the Woke Parts
The administration’s war on universities defies rational self-interest.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

ICYMI: Will Syrian refugees go 'home'?

Looking at the experimental evidence of Syrian refugee return intentions, with work from @loribeaman.bsky.social @aalrababah.bsky.social @dmasterson.bsky.social @mirandasimon.bsky.social @thebraith.bsky.social and others

www.compas.ox.ac.uk/article/will...
Will Syrian Refugees Go ‘Home’? A Look at Some Experimental Evidence On Return Intentions | COMPAS
www.compas.ox.ac.uk

Thanks so much, @andreapitzer.bsky.social ! Very much inspired by your phenomenal book :)

Happy new year, folks! Looking forward to a fun 2025.

Am going to try to celebrate daily. Starting today
(#1) by celebrating my fantastic better half —
@ayearofcrafting over at insta.

Everything is better with Jess around to share it!!
Here are the first five sets of slides:

01 Introduction: psantanna.com/DiD/01_Intro...

02 Classical 2x2 setup: psantanna.com/DiD/02_two_b...

03 Clustering issues: psantanna.com/DiD/03_Clust...

04 Functional form: psantanna.com/DiD/04_Funct...

05 Covariates: psantanna.com/DiD/05_Covar...

And buy a bottle of the white port some time to mix with tonic. A completely different style for before dinner (or whenever!) :)
We are super pleased to announce the new 2023 wave of the Populism and Political Parties Expert Survey!

The data offers info on party characteristics for 312 parties in 31 🇪🇺 countries, based on 324 expert judgments

The data is available on HarvardDataverse. A quick 🧵: doi.org/10.7910/DVN/... 1/
Populism and Political Parties Expert Survey 2023 (POPPA)
In 2018, the first wave of the Populism and Political Parties Expert Survey (POPPA) introduced a new approach for measuring populism among politica...
doi.org

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

To those wondering about the legality of Trump's potential use of the military, I strongly encourage you to read this piece from earlier today. It does a sober job of explaining the state of the law and what is/isn't authorized under existing law. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-...
How Can Trump Deploy the Military at the Southern Border?
Presidents have extensive power to deploy the military to assist with immigration enforcement, even without a declaration of national emergency.
www.lawfaremedia.org

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

A friend is putting together a grass-roots organizing event and looking for best books for a general audience on how-to, principles, and history (writ broadly). They're connecting with existing orgs but are looking to help newbies catch up knowledge-wise. Please reply here or DM me your favorites!

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Award, for graduate students in their final year, is now open. It's a $25,000 award to facilitate diss write-up. All projects that focus on the causes and/or control of violence welcome. Applications accepted from 1 Nov to 1 Feb 2025.

Details: www.hfg.org
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation - HFG
www.hfg.org

This was an excellent one, for sure :)

Nori and Napoleon during a brief ceasefire :)

Reminder that we are hiring in international law or international organization

polisky

psjminfo
We are hiring! Assistant Professor of International Law and/or International Organization here at School of Government & Public Policy at UArizona. Review of applications starts Oct 9th. Send questions and please share widely!
Assistant Professor - SGPP
Duties and Responsibilities● Publish in refereed journals and other appropriate outlets.● Teach classes on international law, international organizati...
arizona.csod.com

@profmusgrave.bsky.social could I please bother you to add me (right phrase?) to the Polisky environment (is that a thing?), please?

Could be a great cfp for some CCamps work, @rdv.bsky.social
I am excited to announce Francesca Parente and I will be guest editing the 2025 special issue of the International Journal of Transitional Justice! This is a full-circle moment for me, as my first journal submission was to IJTJ.

The CfP is available here: academic.oup.com/ijtj/pages/cfp. #polisky

We are hiring! Assistant Professor of International Law and/or International Organization here at School of Government & Public Policy at UArizona. Review of applications starts Oct 9th. Send questions and please share widely!
Assistant Professor - SGPP
Duties and Responsibilities● Publish in refereed journals and other appropriate outlets.● Teach classes on international law, international organizati...
arizona.csod.com

Reposted by Alex Braithwaite

I am excited to announce Francesca Parente and I will be guest editing the 2025 special issue of the International Journal of Transitional Justice! This is a full-circle moment for me, as my first journal submission was to IJTJ.

The CfP is available here: academic.oup.com/ijtj/pages/cfp. #polisky